The Battle of Evermore

This song has quite a few more Tolkien referances then I have seen mentioned. Starting from the begining.

"Queen of Light took her bow, And then she turned to go" "The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom, And walked the night alone. "

Could mean a variety of things. 1)Glaradriel and Frodo, which a very good explaination was given above. Gladdy refusing the ring and passing into the west, and Frodo being the savior or peace who embraces the worst gloom imaginable by carrying the ring and entering mordor.

2) Queen of Light could be Arwen and The Prince of Peace is Aragorn. Aragorn embraces the the gloom and walks the paths of the dead, which is one of the key points in the book and the turning point in the battle on plennor fields.

3) Queen of light is Eowyn, this is my personal theory. As shown below, I believe most of this song is in the time frame of the Battle on Plennor Fields, Eowyn takes her bow from aragorn and then turns back to Edoras, then Aragorn goes to embrace the gloom. The only real problem with that theory is, "why is Eowyn the Queen of Light". All I have to say is, you kill the witch king, and you earn that title.

"Oh, dance in the dark of night, Sing to the morning light. " "The dark Lord rides in force tonight, And time will tell us all. " "Oh, throw down your plow and hoe, Rest not to lock your homes. "

The people of Gondor know well and good that the greatest army of Mordor in 2 thousand years is approaching to end all thier lives, little hope remains. Dont lock your doors, its useless, the army of mordor is coming. Day is now night as Sauron pollutes the sky and shrouds the sun and the hope of man. They sing for morning.

"Side by side we wait the might of the darkest of them all. "

They stand on the castles walls in dread, waiting for the final battle, the last stand. They stand with friends from afar who come cause they know that if Gondor Falls on this night, all hope ends for everyone.

"I hear the horses' thunder down in the valley blow, I'm waiting for the angels of Avalon, waiting for the eastern glow. "

The men hear the coming of Theoden and the Army of Rohan. Finally coming to the aid of Gondor. Hope at last has come. They await for the "eastern glow" which is the sunrise. In Tolkiens writings the sunrise is such a key element. Fingolfin rides out of the ragged ice unlooked for and drives his host to the gates of Agnband on the first sunrise of middleearth. In numerous songs it is sang about, and Helms deep the sunrise was "ever the hope of man". That is a key element in this song, the men are so sure they will lose, with the wraiths circling above, oh how they wish for the sunlight. The "angels of avalon" part I imagine has a special meaning for plant. I like to think that they are the saviors, or a new hope in battle, which Rohan was for a short time.

"The apples of the valley hold, The seeds of happiness, "

Oh nature is so nice, the trees and plants of the valley. They hold happiness for men, that is all they want to keep.

"The ground is rich from tender care, Repay, do not forget, no, no. " "Dance in the dark of night, sing to the morning light."

The men of gondor tended to the land. They created thier own paradise. FIGHT FOR IT, repay those who would wish domination and the end to nature and green grass. Dont forget what your fighting for, NO NO NO.

"DANCE" Dance is Fight! Fight to the darkest of nights, with no hope in sight. Sing, HOPE for the morning light, for victory, for one last chance to feel the sun against your skin.

"The apples turn to brown and black, The tyrant's face is red. "

They are ruining the land. They will destory all Gondor has made. Sauron is angry and wants to end it now and here. He is coming for the men of gondor.

(Tyrants face is red could be the sideplot with Denethor, or could mean Saurons shame when his army loses, or his witch-king dies. Its hard to say which because if this is to be sequantial with the battle, the witchking dying wouldnt work "perfectly", but who ever said it would)

"Oh the war is common cry, Pick up you swords and fly. " "The sky is filled with good and bad that mortals never know. "

War must be, fight with your swords and bows, everyone, even the children (as shown in book). Thier is much to this battle that the average folk doesnt know about, but they fight for thier country.

"Oh, well, the night is long the beads of time pass slow, " "Tired eyes on the sunrise, waiting for the eastern glow. "

Again, the sunrise. The battles lasts oh so long, will daylight ever come (remember no daylight for days at this point). All they see is death and destruction, the night gets blackers as time passes on, its so slow. They are waiting the sunrise, no rest to those defending thier homes against a enemy who would devour all.

"The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath, " "The drums will shake the castle wall, the ring wraiths ride in black, Ride on. "

Even after the war is over, you still have the count the dead, you still have your scars, your country is all on fire, everything you works for is gone. What is worse then having the fight a war? Fighting one, then winning to find everything you fought for in ruin.

The enemy beats thier drums, the devils of the enemy are at hand. No "chance" that ringwraiths are mentioned in the same POWERFUL line as "The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath".

Ride on though, continue to fight! Ride on.

"Sing as you raise your bow, shoot straighter than before. " "No comfort has the fire at night that lights the face so cold"

Give yourself hope, sing as you fight better then you ever have. Keep fighting, though thier is no comfort when you are watching the fires of your country.

Watching your home burn, pick yourself up, fight harder then before. (Brilliant, i'm sorry to say zepp haters)

Oh dance in the dark of night, Sing to the morning light. The magic runes are writ in gold to bring the balance back. Bring it back.

Fight in the dark of night, fight for the sunrise.

Magic runes.... many different things this could be. Gandalf? Perhaps Merry with his anciet sword parked with runes which helped slayed the king of the wraiths.. quite possible. Frodo and the ring, always a possibility. I tend to go with Merry, cause when the witchking dies, sunlight begins to shine again, and the balance is brought back. Hopelessness, is now now so, the men of gondor have a chance. Right from the book, thier hearts are lifted when the witch-king dies.

"At last the sun is shining, The clouds of blue roll by, With flames from the dragon of darkness, the sunlight blinds his eyes"

Need I explain?

This song related to christ? I'm not so sure bout that, I will admit sometimes us TOlkien fans take a few leaps with zepps music, but this song just mirrors the feeling of the chapter so much. The mood, the direct word-to-word relations. Hard for me to believe this is anything BUT directly taken from Tolkien. Remember, these guys dont wanna come out with a song titled "Battle of Plennor Fields" then sing 20 lines from the book, they have to be sorta cryptic. Just like in Ramble on, when they mix a girl into the mix. Just to keep the rock N roll edge.

and aircav, tolkien would be rolling in his grave if he ever saw this you say this:

":the entire LOTR trilogy is an allegory to christianity and a christian's life, "

Its true that Tolkien used a lot of themes from mythologies that happened to form christianity later in thier civilizations. But in very few ways could it be said that the books mimic christian life. And its even a further stretch to say that Tolkien wrote them with that purpose in mind. Read any of his letters and that will become painfullly obvious.